Lesson 20: Managing Local Storage MOAC 70-687: Configuring Windows 8.1

Lesson 20: Managing Local Storage

MOAC 70-687: Configuring Windows 8.1

Overview• Exam Objective 6.2: Manage local storage

o Manage disk volumes and file systemso Manage storage spaces

Working with DisksLesson 20: Managing Local Storage

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Working with Disks• When you install Windows 8.1 on a

computer, the setup program automatically performs all preparation tasks for the computer's hard disks.

• If you add another disk, you must perform the following tasks:o Select a partitioning style.o Select a disk type.o Divide the disk into partitions or volumes.o Format the volumes with a file system.


Understanding Partition Styles

• The term partition style refers to the method Windows operating systems use to organize partitions on the disk.

• Two hard disk partition styles in Windows 8.1:o MBR – This is the default partition style for

x86-based and x64-based computers. o GPT – First introduced in Windows Vista, you

can now use the GPT partition style on x86-, as well as x64-based, Windows 8 computers.


Understanding Disk Types

• Windows 8.1 supports two disk types: basic disks and dynamic disks.

• A basic disk uses primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives to organize data.

• The alternative to using a basic disk is to convert it to a dynamic disk. The process of converting a basic disk to a dynamic disk creates a single partition that occupies the entire disk. You can then create an unlimited number of volumes out of the space in that partition.


Understanding Volume Types

• When you create a volume on a dynamic disk in Windows 8.1, you can choose from the following four volume types:o Simple volume – Consists of space from a single disk. o Spanned volume – Consists of space from at least

two, to a maximum of 32, physical disks, all of which must be dynamic disks.

o Striped volume – Consists of space from at least two, to a maximum of 32, physical disks, all of which must be dynamic disks.

o Mirrored volume – Consists of an equal amount of space from two disks, both of which must be dynamic disks.


Understanding File Systems

• In Windows 8.1, there are two basic file system options to choose from: NTFS and FAT.

• NTFS is the preferred file system for Windows 8.1.

• FAT file systems that Windows 8.1 supports are:o exFATo FATo FAT32


Using the Disk Management Snap-in

• Disk Management is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in you use to perform disk-related tasks, such as:o Initializing disks o Selecting a partition styleo Converting basic disks to dynamic diskso Creating partitions and volumeso Extending, shrinking, and deleting volumeso Formatting partitions and volumeso Assigning and changing driver letters and pathso Examining and managing physical disk properties,

such as disk quotas, folder sharing and error-checking

Opening the Disk Management Snap-in

Disk Management’s Disk List view



Disk Management’s Volume List view



Disk Management’s Graphical View



Disk Management Graphical View

Information Disk status column Volume status column

Information displayed

Disk number

Disk type

Disk capacity

Disk status

Volume name

Volume size

File system

Volume status


Disk Management Graphical View

Information Disk status column Volume status columnContext menu commands

Convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk

Convert an MBR disk to a GPT disk

Create a new spanned, striped, or mirrored volume

Take the disk offline

Open the disk’s Properties sheet

For a mounted partition or volume:

Mark a basic disk as activeChange the drive letter and pathsFormat the partition or volumeExtend the volumeShrink the volumeAdd a mirrorDelete the volumeOpen the volume’s Properties sheetFor unallocated space: Create a new simple volumeCreate a new spanned volumeCreate a new striped volumeCreate a new mirrored volumeOpen the disk’s Properties sheet

Add a New Disk

The Initialize Disk dialog box



Changing the Partition Style

• If you are running an x86-based computer, Disk Management has most likely selected the MBR partition style by default. You can quickly check which partition style the hard disk is assigned by right-clicking the disk status column in the Graphical view.

• You can also check the volume’s information by opening the Properties sheet for disk and clicking the Volumes tab.


Converting a Basic Disk to a Dynamic

DiskBefore you convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk, you must be aware of the following conditions:• Make sure that you have enough hard disk

space available for the conversion. • You should not convert a basic disk to a

dynamic disk if you are multibooting the computer.

• You cannot convert removable media to dynamic disks.



Disk (cont.)Before you convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk, you must be aware of the following conditions:• You cannot convert drives that use an

allocation unit size (sector size) greater than 512 bytes unless you reformat the drive with a smaller sector size before the conversion.

• Once you change a basic disk to a dynamic disk, the only way you can change it back again is to back up the entire disk and delete the dynamic disk volumes.

Convert a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk

The Convert to Dynamic Disk dialog box



The Disks to Convert dialog box



The Convert Details dialog box




Disk• When you convert from a basic disk to a

dynamic disk, Disk Management performs the following tasks.o Basic disk partitions are converted to dynamic

disk volumes of equal size.o Basic disk primary partitions and logical drives

in the extended partition are converted to simple volumes.

o Any free space in a basic disk extended partition is marked as unallocated.

Create a Volume

The Specify Volume Size page


Create a Volume

The Assign Drive Letter or Path page


Create a Volume

The Format Partition page



Extending and Shrinking Volumes

• To extend or shrink a partition or volume, you simply right-click a partition or volume and select Extend Volume or Shrink Volume from the context menu, or from the Action menu.

• Windows 8.1 extends existing primary partitions, logical drives, and simple volumes by expanding them into adjacent unallocated space on the same disk.

• When you extend a simple volume across multiple disks, the simple volume becomes a spanned volume.

• You cannot extend striped volumes.



To extend a partition on a basic disk, the system must meet the following requirements:• A basic partition must be either unformatted or

formatted with the NTFS file system.• If you extend a logical drive, the console first

consumes the contiguous free space remaining in the extended partition.

• You can extend the partition of logical drives, boot volumes, or system volumes only into contiguous space, and only if the hard disk can be upgraded into a dynamic disk.



To extend a simple or spanned volume on a dynamic disk, the system must meet these requirements:• When extending a simple volume, you can only

use the available space on the same disk, if the volume is to remain simple.

• You can extend a simple volume across additional disks if it is not a system volume or a boot volume.

• You can extend a simple or spanned volume if it does not have a file system (a raw volume) or if you formatted it using the NTFS file system. (You cannot extend FAT volumes.)



To shrink a basic disk partition or any kind of dynamic disk volume except for a striped volume, the system must meet the following requirements.• The existing partition or volume must not be full and

must contain the specified amount of available free space for shrinking.

• The partition or volume must not be a raw partition (one without a file system). Shrinking a raw partition that contains data mighty destroy the data.

• You can shrink a partition or volume only if you formatted it using the NTFS file system. (You cannot shrink FAT volumes.)


Creating Spanned, Striped, and Mirrored

Volumes• Spanned, striped, or mirrored volumes

require dynamic disks. • When you create a spanned, striped, or

mirrored volume, you create a single dynamic volume that extends across multiple physical disks.

Creating Spanned, Striped, and Mirrored Volumes

A spanned volume in the Disk Management snap-in



Using Storage Spaces• Windows 8.1 includes a new disk

virtualization technology called Storage Spaces, which enables a computer to concatenate storage space from individual physical disks and use that space to create a virtual disk.

• Storage Spaces uses unallocated disk space to create storage pools.


Using Storage Spaces (cont.)

• A storage pool can span multiple drives invisibly, providing an accumulated storage resource that you can expand or reduce as needed by adding disks to or removing them from the pool.

• When you create a storage pool, it appears to the operating system as a single volume, called a storage space, even if it consists of many physical disks.

Create a Storage Pool

The Storage Spaces control panel



The Select drives to create a storage pool page



The Enter a name, resiliency type, and size for the storage space page



The Storage Spaces control panel, with a storage pool



Using Diskpart.exe• Diskpart.exe is a powerful utility that can

perform any task the Disk Management snap-in can and more.

• Diskpart.exe has two operational modes, a script mode and an interactive mode. If you choose to create Diskpart scripts, you can run them from the command prompt using the following syntax:Diskpart.exe /s scriptname

Using Diskpart.exe

Shifting object focus in Diskpart.exe



Using Disk Tools• The Windows 8.1 disk tools are all

accessible from each volume’s Properties sheet.

• You can access the tools from any File Explorer window or from the Disk Management snap-in.


Disk Cleanup• When a disk starts to run low on storage

space, it is often possible to reclaim space occupied by unnecessary files, such as temporary files, setup logs, and files in the Recycle Bin.

• Windows 8.1 refers to the process of deleting these files as cleaning up a disk.


Clean up a Volume

The Disk Cleanup dialog box


Defragmenting Disks• Hard disk drives write data in clusters, units of a

standard size designated when you format the disk.

• Over time, as files are written and rewritten to the disk, the contiguous spaces grow smaller, and the drive is forced to split files into clusters located at different places on the disk. This process is called fragmentation.

• Windows 8.1 includes a tool that enables you to defragment your volumes by recopying fragmented files to contiguous space on the disk.

Defragment a Volume

The Disk Defragmenter dialog box



Checking for Disk Errors

• Windows 8.1 includes a tool that can check disks for errors and, in many cases, repair them. If, for example, one of a system’s volumes is unavailable for defragmentation, it could be due to errors that you must repair first.

• You can also use the Chkdsk.exe utility to check for disk errors from the command prompt.

Lesson Summary• There are two hard disk partition styles that you can use in

Windows 8.1: MBR and GPT.• Windows 8.1 supports two disk types: basic disks and

dynamic disks.• Basic disks can have up to four partitions: three primary

partitions and the fourth usually being an extended partition, on which you can create multiple logical drives.

• Windows 8.1 supports four types of dynamic volumes: simple, spanned, striped, and mirrored.

• You use the Disk Management snap-in for MMC to manage disks.


Lesson Summary• Windows 8.1 includes a new disk virtualization technology

called Storage Spaces, which enables a server to concatenate storage space from individual physical disks and allocate it to create virtual disks of any size.

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Lesson 20: Managing Local Storage MOAC 70-687: Configuring Windows 8.1